Yahoo CEO Steps Down

Yahoo is replacing its CEO for the third time in three years, after chief executive Scott Thompson stepped down over the weekend, after just four months in the role. Yahoo has not given a reason for the departure, but it’s believed that it results from a scandal over eroneous references to a computer science degree on Thompson’s CV.

Yahoo has previously confirmed that Thompson does not, as his company biography claimed, have a computer science degree.

Replacing Thompson as interim CEO is Yahoo’s global media head Ross Levinsohn. Fred Amoroso has also been named chairman of the Board of Directors, replacing Roy Bostock.

“The Board is pleased to announce these changes,” Amoroso says, “and is confident that they will serve the best interests of our shareholders and further accelerate the substantial advances the company has made operationally and organisationally since last August. The Board believes in the strength of the company’s business and assets, and in the opportunities before us, and I am honored to work closely with my fellow directors and Ross to continue to drive Yahoo forward”.

Yahoo has also reached an agreement with Third Point, which owns 5.8 per cent of stock in the company, over its pending proxy contest over the 2012 annual meeting of shareholders, which will see three nominees from Third Point join the Board.